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Welcome to the Wandering Son Wiki

This is an English language wiki for the manga and anime Hourou Musuko. This anime and wiki is a transgender themed story, featuring the life experiences of transgender teenagers. Because of the manga and anime exploration of the subject of transgender teens, portions of this wiki may not be suitable for pre-teens or younger children. READER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED !!!

For a quick and fun review of the Wandering Son anime, go to the Video Section and watch the anime music videos of Hourou Musuko. Also check out the anime review of Wandering Son done by an experienced anime critic.

Because the Wandering Son anime and manga have several transgender characters, this wiki will observe the following gender identification markers and pronoun usage. Cis-female characters will be identified by female markers and pronouns. Cis-male characters will be identified by male markers and pronouns. Transgender characters, the times when they are presenting as their correct gender, will be identified by that gender's markers and pronouns. Transgender characters, when presenting as their perceived birth gender, will be identified by gender neutral pronouns.

( More information about gender neutral pronoun usage can be found here. )

Shuichi's Correct Gender

Yoshino's Correct Gender

Anna Suehiro

Overview

The story depicts a young student named Shuichi Nitori, described by the author, Takako Shimura, as a boy who wants to be a girl, and Shuichi's friend Yoshino Takatsuki, described as a girl who wants to be a boy. The series deals with issues such as transgender teens, gender identity, and the beginning of puberty. Created by Takako Shimura, Shimura was originally going to write the story about a girl in high school who wants to be a boy, but she realized that a boy who wants to become a girl before entering into puberty would have a lot of worries related to growing up, and changed the story to fit this model. Two other characters that attend school with Shuichi are also shown to have transgender issues to work through, plus one student is depicted as a gender non-conforming teen. All of the transgender characters are thrust into social and emotional situations when they attend school, as well as being out in public and with family, with many and varied reactions from the other students, teachers, family members, and people in general to the ones finally presenting themselves as their correct gender in their lives. Wandering Son was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the tenth Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006.

Plot

At the start of Wandering Son, Shuichi Nitori is a young, feminine child assigned male at birth (AMAB) in the fifth grade who transfers into a new school. Shuichi quickly becomes friends with another student; tall, boyish Yoshino Takatsuki. Yoshino soon learns of Shuichi's desire to be a girl. In a show of friendship, Yoshino confesses a similar desire to be a boy. Shuichi also becomes friends with Saori Chiba and Kanako Sasa, two other girls in the class. Saori instantly takes a liking to Shuichi and continuously encourages Shuichi to wear feminine clothes. After Shuichi, Yoshino, and their friends enter the sixth grade, Shuichi meets Makoto Ariga, another AMAB student close to their age from another class, who also secretly wants to be a girl. Shuichi and Yoshino become friends with an adult transgender woman named Yuki, who is living with a man named Shiina. Shuichi's older sister Maho becomes a model and eventually becomes friends with Maiko, a teen model whom she idolizes, and two other teen models: Tamaki Satō and Anna Suehiro. Maho gets a boyfriend, Riku Seya, and Shuichi confesses a crush on Yoshino, but Yoshino cannot at this time reciprocate Shuichi's feelings. After Saori learns of this, she confesses she likes Shuichi too, but Shuichi unfortunately cannot return her feelings. This results in a falling-out between Shuichi's friends as they prepare to enter junior high school.

In junior high school, they meet a tall, eccentric, gender non-conforming girl who befriends everyone named Chizuru Sarashina, and her prickly friend Momoko Shirai, who does not get along well with the others—especially Saori. Eventually, Saori and Yoshino rejoin Shuichi's group of friends, though Saori says she still hates Yoshino and Momoko. Shuichi and Anna start dating, much to the surprise of their friends and Shuichi's sister. Yoshino and Saori manage to halfway repair their friendship, though Saori is still standoffish to others. Shuichi's friends are split up into several classes upon entering their second year in junior high school. Shuichi becomes friends with Shinpei Doi, who previously teased Shuichi about wanting to be a girl. Yoshino attends school in a boy's uniform for a short time; Shuichi tries to go to school dressed as a girl one day, but is laughed at, and becomes discouraged. Shuichi's friends worry as Shuichi begins skipping school. Although Shuichi eventually starts attending school regularly again, Anna breaks off their relationship. By the time Shuichi, Yoshino, and their friends enter their third year in junior high school, Shuichi's voice is changing. The group of friends start thinking about their future high school plans, and Shuichi and Anna start dating again.

Reception

It was reported in June 2013 that approximately 1.05 million copies of the manga are in print in Japan. Wandering Son was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the tenth Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006. The Young Adult Library Services Association nominated Wandering Son for its 2012 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. The anime was awarded the honorable mention prize for technical achievement in broadcast animation at the 65th Motion Picture and Television Engineering Society of Japan Awards in 2012.

In a review of the first volume by Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network (ANN), she praised the slow pace of the storytelling, which "gives it a more realistic feel". Silverman praises Takako Shimura for making Shuichi into a "human protagonist", but notes that "most of the children act much older than they are". The second volume was featured in ANN's 'Right Turn Only' column in March 2007 as the Import of the Month, where Carlo Santos lauded the series for using acceptance of authentic gender identity as the "actual heart of the story" in contrast to "every other series" involving cross-dressing, which typically use "gender reversal as a goofy plot device". The art was praised as "simple [with] few lines, but incredibly expressive" which Santos claimed is a "style that's the most difficult and beautiful of all." However, Santos criticized the "emotional realism" of the work for having the young characters' "unrealistically mature attitude" towards "issues above their grade level."

Matt Thorn, the English translator of the manga, wrote that fans of Anne of Green Gables or The Rose of Versailles would also enjoy Wandering Son, and Silverman compared Wandering Son to Mizuiro Jidai. Thorn described the art as "clean and lovely" and went on to cite Wandering Son as "sweet, thought-provoking, funny, and moving, and I think it will resonate with readers regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation". The first manga volume as translated by Fantagraphics Books had an early debut at the May 2011 Toronto Comic Arts Festival and sold out within the first two hours of the event

Media Distribution

Wandering Son (放浪息子 Hōrō Musuko?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takako Shimura. It was originally serialized in Comic Beam from the December 2002 to August 2013 issue, and published in 15 tankōbon volumes by Enterbrain from July 2003 to August 2013. The series is licensed in English by Fantagraphics Books, which released the first volume in North America in July 2011. A 12-episode anime adaptation produced by AIC Classic and directed by Ei Aoki aired in Japan between January and March 2011. Eleven episodes aired on television, with episodes 10 and 11 edited into a single episode, and were released individually on their respective BD/DVD volumes

Anime Review by a Seasoned Anime Critic

Poll

In Episodes 9-10, Shuichi, born perceived a male, comes to school dressed as their correct gender identity of a teenage female, wearing a girl's sailor suit school uniform. After consultation with a medical professional, Shuichi is determined to have a female gender identity. Should the school administration expel Shuichi ?

YES, the school administration should expel Shuichi, since attending school as a female student is an abomination to nature, given that Shuichi was born a male.

2

NO, the school administration should NOT expel Shuichi, but should make provisions for Shuichi to attend school as a female, dressed in the female school uniform, without any trouble or bullying.

84

The poll was created at 13:44 on April 12, 2018, and so far 86 people voted.

Please wait, submitting your vote...

Otaku Anime Fan's Comments on Wandering Son

happytaco - a year ago

This was such a beautiful anime. It was quite mature, especially for the age range of the characters, but nonetheless amazing. I still thought this was very realistic (not from experience, but from what I've learned), and accurately displays the lives of self-discovering pubescents. My score: 9/10, Would 100% recommend watching or reading.

pinky 10236 - a year ago

Um, the whole point of the show is that the main characters are transgender teens. It's a really good anime, you should definitely watch it.

Lilliana-sama - 2 years ago

This story gave an interesting point of view and if anyone has been a transgender person and through what they have been, then you will find it awesome. I personally wish they would have showed what happened to them afterwards :)

Kirin Chan - 2 years ago

Such a beautiful anime, left me in tears wanting more. In my opinion, it does not matter what/how we choose to gender identify are ourselves; as
we all deserve to be respected and loved.

Alians - 2 years ago

The show starts with a mature theme. Later, I realized the show has multiple focuses; such as decision making and courage with great relationship building. This anime is realistic with the character growth and personalities. I give the anime 8/10.

birdy - 2 years ago

This was a really sweet story. I really love this anime and the Ending and Opening songs are really good, and they fit really well with the theme of this anime. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes Slice of Life anime with a personal and deep story. This anime made me feel happy and sometimes sad, and overall its a wonderful story.

Jodie Rye - 2 years ago

I cried through most of this series. I so identify with the experiences of Shuichi Nitori. It brought back some powerful memories. There are few stories told in film that accurately portray the conflict transgender youth experience in life.

Notice

The Management Positions for Wandering Son / Hourou Musuko Wiki are all taken, and the editing manpower of this wiki is currently adequate. Because this wiki is a transgender themed wiki, it is best for transgender people to edit it, as transgender people can identify with the transgender characters and tell their story with personal conviction, compassion, and a positive take on transgender issues. Nevertheless, the front page, anime episodes section, and the character profiles of this wiki have all been edited, double checked, have been proofread, and have come to reasonable completion. Further editing on these sections is not needed or necessary. However, if you still think that you have to supposedly edit on this wiki, you MUST observe these Editing Guidelines, found here .